This invention relates to telephone conferencing systems that enable a a number of callers, to participate in a conference by means of telephones.
Telephone or audio conferencing allows three or more people to participate in a single telephone conversation. Each person is able to hear all the other callers when they speak and the conversation can progress as if all the callers were in the same room.
Audio telephone conferencing systems exist for connection to both the analogue and digital telecommunications networks. These systems use either analogue bridges or digital signal processing to combine the audio from three or more callers and play it to all participants in the conference.
With the advance of digital systems, more complex algorithms have been employed to improve the quality of the speech heard by each caller.
Existing conferencing systems have two basic market areas, business conferencing and social chatlines. Business conferencing can be provided as a public service by the network operator, or provided locally from a company""s PABX. Chatlines are usually provided by independent service providers to callers who pay a premium rate for the call whilst accessing the service. The telephone numbers for chatlines are extensively advertised and there is no restriction on callers wishing to access the service, as long as the telephone being used has not been barred from initiating premium rate calls.
There are, at present, two main ways in which a telephone conference (teleconference) can be set up automatically. The first way is for all participants to dial in to a pre-arranged number at a pre-arranged time, on a so-called xe2x80x9cmeet mexe2x80x9d basis. The second way is for one caller to dial into a system and then control the system so that it outdials to the other participants.
Business applications for xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d teleconferencing systems can use an in-house system, a bureau or a network-based system. In each case, the business or group using a conference facility will generally have been allocated a telephone number and PIN. Telephone meetings can then be held on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis by all individuals with knowledge of the telephone number and PIN. The nature of the business user in terms of permanence and administrative simplicity make this approach practical and economic.
In contrast, a network operator wishing to provide xe2x80x9cmeet-mexe2x80x9d telephone conferencing on an ad-hoc spontaneous basis to all subscribers would find the business model with its requirement for preregistration extremely difficult to manage effectively in the domestic arena.
Therefore the current situation is somewhat bizarre in that many public network operators (PNO""s) provide on-demand meet-me conference facilities for strangers (i.e. chatline services) but do not provide such facilities for friends and families that may want to talk together.
According to the invention there is provided a telephone conferencing system comprising means for connecting a number of telephone calls together to provide a conferencing function, connection of a telephone call to the conference being allowed only upon receipt of an acceptable identification function, wherein the identification function is the telephone number of one of the participants designated as a link number, and wherein the conference is enabled only when the system recognises a match between the link number entered by the participant and the calling line identity signal of that call.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system is provided which allows a number of groups of people to speak together on the telephone, the setting-up of the conferences being achieved automatically or semi-automatically, with provision for ensuring that callers are correctly grouped in their desired conferences.
The preferred system ensures that random callers cannot talk together on a chatline basis as the link number must match the telephone number of one of the callers. The system can also be configured such that the link number callers (i.e. the callers whose calling line identity matches the entered link number) must positively accept each of the other callers into the conference.
In accordance with the invention, it becomes possible to meet several key requirements for a network-based on-demand conferencing system.
All parties to the conference will generally pay their own costs.
Individuals are always routed to the correct conference even when many conferences are taking place simultaneously on the same system.
Conferences may be restricted only to those individuals that have been accepted by the link number caller.
The system is very simple to use, and this is a key issue if residential conferencing is to achieve widespread acceptance.
In the preferred system, any social group wishing to talk together will agree that one of their telephone numbers is to be designated the xe2x80x9clink numberxe2x80x9d. Since, in the preferred system, no caller will be placed in the conference until the telephone associated with this number dials into the system, there is no possibility of individuals arriving in the wrong conference (as all telephone numbers are, of course, different) unless they misdial or maliciously attempt to enter someone else""s conference. In order to prevent such incorrect or malicious entry to a conference, the system can be configured such that all callers must be positively accepted by the link number caller, and this approach then provides a simple and secure conferencing system suitable for domestic or residential use.